Kitsch
Etymology
From German "Kitsch," slang that surfaced in the Munich art market around the 1860s–70s. Its exact origin is disputed: some trace it to the dialect verb kitschen, "to smear or throw together cheaply," others to a German mangling of the English "sketch" sold to tourists. Critics later made it a central term in debates about mass taste and high art.
noun · /KITCH/
Art or objects that are cheaply sentimental or gaudy, appealing to easy, popular taste.
What it names
The velvet Elvis, the weeping-clown painting, the mass-produced tug at the heartstrings — a word for aesthetic that trades on ready-made emotion, whether enjoyed sincerely or ironically.
Example
The gift shop was a temple of kitsch — snow globes, glittery angels, and mugs printed with sunset platitudes.
Related idea
Kitsch is cheap, sentimental bad taste; camp knowingly embraces excess and artifice, enjoying its own extravagance.